Sunday, January 25, 2009

Well, the UK is falling in love with Michelle Obama. As her husband, she is now being watched closely, but more so for her fashion style and sense.

Michelle Obama’s flair for fashion has captivated Washington and set the hearts of glossy magazine editors aflutter. She has already eclipsed Carla Bruni, the super-model chanteuse and wife of Nicolas Sarkozy, the hyperactive French president. Not since Diana, Princess of Wales, has there been such a glamorous role model at the apex of society.

I always liked Carla Bruni, she definitely has that flair being a former model, but I state that her rollout as France's First Lady does not measure a candle's wick to Michelle Obama's.

In her white, one-shouldered chiffon gown, she boogied to Stevie Wonder’s Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours and slow-danced with her husband at a succession of inaugural balls. Barack Obama held her lovingly around the waist, clasping two fingers around her back, and nuzzled her. Women’s Wear Daily, the influential American fashion magazine, said her ball gown made the Obamas look like newlyweds.

I remember reading that someone's child was watching Michelle and Barack dancing at the Inaugural Balls said that, "Michelle looks like a princess." And in recalling that night's events, I agree, she did.

In reading the Times piece, there are similarities between Michelle and the late Princess Diana, both are/were staunch supporters for family, both have/had made their children central to their life, and both care/d about the less fortunate. After that, that is it.

Unlike Princess Diana, Michelle Obama clearly is in love with her husband as he is with her. After watching them on Inaugural Night every woman in America questioned when was the last time my husband looked at ME like that? And as Keith Olbermann was mocking the song that was repetitious throughout the night, "At Last", his female producer had to remind him that the public WANT to see them dancing together, loves watching how they look at each other, knows that they love one another, and why does he (Keith) not get it. We got all that from a couple (Barack and Michelle) who has been married for 16 years. We did not get that from Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

Michelle Obama is a fashion icon, now, whether she wanted this challenge or not. Everything she wears is under a microscope. How she mixes high end with the J. Crew style will be watched and debated. Every bag, shoes, accessories flaunted with women rushing to purchase it, just as her girls coats on Inaugural Day crashed the J. Crew website, everyone will watch Michelle Obama.

Finally, is she Princess Diana? No. But she is the face of many working American women, one's who have to balance family, work and responsibility without the Royal House budget for clothing. That is something that Princess Diana never had to worry about.

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